Republicans pander to ‘Christian Zionists’ with pro-Israel boasts

 

It is difficult — and futile — to argue which American president has historically been the most pro-Israel. While Barack Obama, for example, pledged more money to Israel than any other US president, Donald Trump has provided it with a blank check of seemingly endless political concessions. 
Certainly, unconditional backing and declarations of love for Israel are common among all US administrations. What they may differ on, however, is their overall motive — primarily their target audience during election campaigns. 
Both Republicans and Democrats head into November’s presidential election with strong pro-Israel sentiments and outright support, completely ignoring the plight of occupied and oppressed Palestinians. 
To win the support of the pro-Israeli constituencies, and especially the favor of the Israeli lobby in Washington, Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris have deviated from even the low standards set by the Obama administration. Despite its generous financial support for Israel and full political backing, especially during Tel Aviv’s wars on the Gaza Strip, the Obama White House dared, at times, to censure Israel over the expansion of its illegal Jewish settlements. 
The Biden-Harris ticket, however, is offering Israel unconditional support. “Joe has made it clear,” Harris was quoted as saying in a telephone call last week, “he will not tie US security assistance to Israel to political decisions Israel makes, and I couldn’t agree more.” The call was made to what the Israeli newspaper Haaretz termed “Jewish supporters.” The Jerusalem Post and The Times of Israel referred to this crucial constituency as “Jewish donors.” 
These references are sufficient to delineate the nature of the Democratic Party establishment’s current support for Israel. Although the views of the party’s rank and file have significantly shifted against Israel in recent years, the Democratic upper echelon still caters to the Israeli lobby, even if this means molding US foreign policy in the entire Middle East region to serve Tel Aviv’s interests. 

The real Republican prize in the coming election is not the Jewish vote but that of the Christian Zionists.

Ramzy Baroud

For the Republicans, however, it is a different story: The party’s establishment and the rank and file are united in their love and support for Israel. Though the Israeli lobby plays an important role in harnessing and channeling this support, Republicans are not motivated by merely pleasing the pro-Israel lobbyists in Washington. 
The speeches made by Republican leaders at the Republican National Convention (RNC), held in Charlotte, North Carolina, last week, aimed to reassure the Christian Evangelicals — often referred to as “Christian Zionists” — who are the most powerful pro-Israel constituency in the US. The once-relatively marginal impact of Christian Zionists in shaping US foreign policy has morphed over the years, and particularly during the Trump presidency, to define the core values of the Republican Party. 
“This is apocalyptic foreign policy in a nutshell: Israel not as a real country but as fantasyland, backdrop for Christian myth,” tweeted Israeli commentator Gershom Gorenberg on Aug. 24. Gorenberg’s criticism was posted hours before a controversial speech made by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who delivered his brief RNC notes from “beautiful Jerusalem, looking out over the old city.” The location — and reference to it in Pompeo’s speech — were clear messages regarding the religious centrality of Israel to US foreign policy, and the unmistakable target audience. 
Trump was even more obvious during an Aug. 17 speech in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. “We moved the capital of Israel to Jerusalem,” Trump announced to a cheering crowd. “And so the Evangelicals — you know, it’s amazing with that — the Evangelicals are more excited about that than Jewish people… It’s really, it’s incredible.” Unsurprisingly, 22 percent of Wisconsin residents identify as “Evangelical Protestants.” 
This was not the first time Trump derided US Jews for not being as supportive of him as they are of his Democratic rivals. A year ago, he called Jewish Democrats “disloyal” to Israel. “I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty,” he said. This was not a simple case of Trump’s typical political insensitivity but, rather, the cognizance that the real Republican prize in the coming election is not the Jewish vote but that of the Christian Zionists. 
In his RNC speech last Thursday, Trump again recounted his pro-Israeli accomplishments, including the relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018. “Unlike many presidents before me, I kept my promise, recognized Israel’s true capital and moved our embassy to Jerusalem,” Trump proclaimed. 
The moving of the embassy, always a great opportunity to repeat the word “Jerusalem” before a jubilant crowd, was a key message at the RNC, repeated by all top speakers, including former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley. “President Trump moved our embassy to Jerusalem — and when the UN tried to condemn us, I was proud to cast the American veto,” Haley announced, generating an approving cheer. 
In all of their references to Israel at the convention, the Republican leaders adhered to specific talking points: Iran, the US embassy move, the recognition of the occupied Golan Heights as Israeli territory, the fight against anti-Semitism (silencing any criticism of Israel), and so on. However, the Republican discourse seems to be detached from the traditional US foreign policy view that American support for Israel serves the geopolitical and geostrategic interests of Washington. This view, predominant among Democrats, seems to have been almost entirely forsaken by Republicans, whose love for Israel is now seemingly dedicated to a purely religious mission.
In June 2015, when he was serving as a congressman from Kansas, Pompeo declared before a packed megachurch in Wichita that the “battles” against evil are a “never-ending struggle,” which will continue “until the Rapture” — a reference to what some Christians believe to be a sign of the end of times. Addressing the RNC from Jerusalem last week, Pompeo must have felt like part of his spiritual mission had already been fulfilled.

• Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is “These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons” (Clarity Press, Atlanta). Twitter: @RamzyBaroud